Hitchcock holiday gift guideDirector Sacha Gervasi’s movie about Alfred Hitchcock and the making of “Psycho” is sure to inspire film lovers to revisit some of Hitchcock’s own projects. Fortunately, finding them is easy thanks to several great DVD and Blu-ray collections. Hitchcock boxed sets also make excellent Christmas gifts for cinema fans. Here’s a look at a few of them: Alfred Hitchcock — The Masterpiece Collection (Universal Studios): This wonderful boxed set includes 15 of Hitch’s best-known works, including “Psycho,” “The Birds,” “Rear Window,” “Vertigo” and “Marnie.” A 14-film version has been available on DVD for some time, but Universal released it on Blu-ray in October, adding “North By Northwest” to the mix. It’s a can’t-miss collection for Hitchcock aficionados. Alfred Hitchcock — The Essentials Collection (Universal Studios): If a 15-film set is too extreme, you can always take a more concentrated look at Hitchcock. This set, which is considerably cheaper than the Masterpiece Collection, features five of the master of suspense’s greatest efforts: “Psycho,” “Rear Window,” “North By Northwest,” “Vertigo” and “The Birds.” Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection (MGM): The movies featured in this eight-film set aren’t as well known as those in the Universal collections, but they are still worthwhile. Included are “Notorious,” “Sabotage,” “Rebecca” and “Spellbound.” The Alfred Hitchcock Box Set (Lionsgate): This is a collection designed primarily for diehard fans, as it is made up of five early films: “The Ring,” “The Manxman,” “Murder!” “The Skin Game” and “Rich and Strange.” Folks who are new to Hitchcock should start with the Universal or MGM offerings, as they contain many of the acknowledged classics. Alfred Hitchcock Signature Collection (Warner Brothers): This nine-movie Warner Brothers set is out of print, but you can still find it on some online sites. If you get a good price, it’s worthwhile, as it contains some real gems including “Strangers on a Train,” “Dial M for Murder” and “Mr. and Mrs. Smith. — Forrest Hartman, Special to Best Bets

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Director Sacha Gervasi spent an intense 35 days shooting a movie about film icon Alfred Hitchcock, and he did plenty of research before that. Still, in his mind, Hitchcock remains an enigma.

“I feel like I know even more about him and even less,” Gervasi said during a recent phone interview. “The great thing about Hitchcock is the mystery deepens the more you know because he was so many contrasting, different things.”

Hitchcock, known by movie lovers as the master of suspense, is one of the most respected filmmakers in history, and the genius of his craft has been explored ad nauseum. How does one make a feature film about a man like that? Gervasi thought it was important to peer into the recesses of his life.

“I think the area that hadn’t really been looked at was the area of his own personal life and his marriage,” Gervasi said, “the fact that the woman by his side also happened to be a tremendously skilled and gifted filmmaker. For us, it was like let’s tell the story that people aren’t expecting.”

That means “Hitchcock,” which opens Friday at the Century Riverside, isn’t just about the great director. It’s also about his wife, Alma Reville, a talented film editor, screenwriter and assistant director.

“The primary intention of the movie was to shine a light on this incredible creative collaboration,” Gervasi said. “It’s really an unexpected love story.”

In order to bring iconic personalities to life on the big screen, one needs great actors, and Gervasi feels fortunate that he had two greats in front of the camera. Sir Anthony Hopkins plays Hitchcock, and Helen Mirren plays Reville. Gervasi said the actors signed onto the project before he was added as director, but it didn’t take much to convince them that he was the man for the job. In fact, Gervasi said, he was surprised to learn that both Mirren and Hopkins are admirers of his last movie, the rock documentary “Anvil: The Story of Anvil.”

“Helen and Tony both told me they really loved it and felt that I was a storyteller,” he said. “They were excited to see what I might bring to this film.”

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One thing he brought was a love of Hitchcock movies.

“I think anybody growing up in Britain who has any interest in getting into film at all is a huge fan of Hitchcock,” Gervasi said. “I started a film club at school. We would show movies on 16 millimeter when I was like 14, 15, and the first three movies that we showed were ‘Don’t Look Now,’ ‘Easy Rider’ and ‘Psycho.’”

The latter film plays a huge role in Gervasi’s “Hitchcock” because the screenplay was adapted from the Stephen Rebello book “Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho.” Although the emotional center of the picture is Hitchcock’s relationship with Alma, the movie also considers the difficulties the director had in bringing “Psycho” to the screen. The movie even features fantasy sequences in which Hitchcock confers with Ed Gein, the real-life murderer who inspired the character of Norman Bates.

“We wanted a way inside Hitchcock’s mind,” Gervasi said, “and what better sort of suitably Hitchcockian, deliciously ironic way than to have Ed Gein, one of the most notorious serial killers in American history, be Hitchcock’s best friend and shrink. We just thought there was something funny about it.”

Gervasi and company also added homages that make “Hitchcock” not only a movie about the master of suspense, but one that uses some of his filmmaking hallmarks.

“We wanted to have some fun with it because a key thing about Hitchcock was his sort of ironic sense of humor,” Gervasi said. “So we definitely, in that spirit, put certain things in there. We really did that on purpose to sort of turn a Hitchcock movie into a Hitchcock movie.”

The film has already generated Oscar buzz, particularly surrounding Hopkins’ performance, but Gervasi said he doesn’t allow himself to worry about things like that.

“Honestly, for us, it’s just a miracle that the movie got made,” he said. “We’re so happy with the film. It’s playing really great to audiences, people are really enjoying it and that’s sort of the reason why we did it. … People forget that to get any movie made is a miracle, and particularly when you have a movie that you’re really proud about that really is playing to audiences, it’s a sort of double, triple miracle. So, we’re all done already. Anything beyond that is like crazy.”